Report WEFTA wg meeting 2012

Izmir, Turkey, March 15th, 2012

 Western European Fish Technologists´ Association (WEFTA) Working Group on Analytical Methods for Fishery products 

Report on the 34th  Annual Meeting in Izmir, Turkey, March 15th, 2012

Rapporteur: Karen Bekaert

Introduction 

The 34th annual meeting of the WEFTA Working Group on Analytical Methods took place under the chairmanship of H. Karl in Izmir, Turkey on Thursday March 16th , 2012. The meeting of the "Working Group on Analytical Methods” was attended by 9 representatives from 7 institutions of the following countries: Belgium, Croatia, France, Germany (2), Turkey (2), Iceland, Spain. 

Apologies for absence were received from France (Véronique Verrez-Bagnis), Denmark, Portugal and Italy (Anna Badiani and Guiliana Parisi). 

Adopted Agenda 

1.       Opening of the meeting 

2.       Nomination of rapporteur

3.       Technical details of the meeting

4.       Introduction of new participants

5.       Reports from the last „WEFTA representatives meeting" in Gothenburg, Sweden

6.       Report of the last meeting (Cesenatico, 2011)

7.       New publications of WG members or institutions of interest for the WG (all)

8.       Internal control (reference) material, progress (all)

9.       Status of aquaculture in different countries (all)

10.    Nutritional values of aquaculture products, trace elements (all)

11.    Parasites progress reports (all)

12.    Contaminants progress report (all)

13.    Microbiological issues

14.    National and EU funded projects (all)

15.    Actual laboratory questions, problems and "good to know” issues

16.    Future business and tasks of the Working Group 

17.    WEFTA homepage, publication of WEFTA interlab. studies and home methods (all)    

18.    Date and place of the next meeting 

19.    Other business 

20.    Adjourn 

Remark: the underlined sentences  are "TO DO” 

1. Opening 

The chairman H. Karl opened the meeting and A. Cadun  and S. Cakli welcomed all the participants in Izmir . 

2. Nomination of rapporteur 

K. Bekaert was nominated as rapporteur for 2012. 

3. Technical details of the meeting 

Some details were given on the arrangements for the meeting. A. Cadun gave a small presentation of the Ege University in Izmir. The main task of the Faculty is teaching and research. The University consists of 15 faculties, of which one is the faculty of fisheries. This faculty consists of 3 departments: aquaculture and fish technology. A visit of the faculty of fisheries is organized on the 16th of March.

4. Introduction of participants

All representatives gave a short presentation on their field of work and the research projects of interest going on in their institute. There is one new participant in the group: Sanja Vidacek from Croatia. She gave a short presentation (annex 2) on the University of Zagreb and the work in the faculty of food technology and biotechnology.  

5. Report from the last WEFTA representatives meeting

The WEFTA representative’s meeting took place in Goteborg, Sweden. The representatives are happy with the work realized in the WEFTA WG. There is now one publication on lipid extraction by a modified "Smedes” method. The aim is to write a publication every two years as an outcome of the meeting. 

6. Report of the last meeting of the analytical method working group in Cesenatico (2011) 

The report was accepted without any changes. Horst remarks that Joop already put it on the homepage before it was accepted. It was decided that a draft of the report of 2012 will be send around so that everyone can give comments within one month. K. Bekaert will also write a summary of the report. When the summary is accepted, it can be placed on the homepage. 

7. New publications

Only H. Karl sent its publications/ reports of interest  of 2010 to K. Bekaert. It is decided that every institute sends its publications of the last years (from 2009 on) to Monika by the end of April. This is just to inform the WG. If people are interested in older publications, they are requested to contact directly the authors. 

Monica made a compilation of all the collaborative trials that were finalized during the years by the WEFTA WG. This compilation will be placed on the homepage. A link to the articles or the journals will be added. 

8. Internal Control Reference Material

·         Horst used the internal control reference material for nitrogen analysis and dioxin + dioxin-like PCB’s. Monika plans to use this reference material for trace elements. She will compare these results and the results from the "expensive” reference material. 

·         The WG agrees to do more tests with the fish meal. Heida will prepare a badge of 2 kg for every lab. She will try to do this during May. The participating labs will pay the transport costs. 

·         Heida and Horst will write a procedure of how the material should be used and stored. 

·         Horst presented the results of the first trial (annex 3).He will send the excel-sheet with the "raw results” to Guillaume, who will make a small statistical report of these results).

·         It was agreed that every lab will analyse the material for proximate compositionwhen they receive it for 10 times (within one month). Heida will set the deadline. After that, the material can be used as a routine control for the method. Guillaume will collect all the data and write a small statistical report

·         Everyone is free to use the material for other applications and follow the same procedure as for the proximate composition (analyse 10 times when received, then use it as control during the year). There is interest for trace elements, phosphate, fatty acids, dioxin and dioxin-like PCB’s, TVB-N, biogenic amines, TMA, TBARS. 

·         Horst will ask Rogerio, Guiliana, Bo and Véronique if they want to participate in this trial.

9. Status of aquaculture in different countries (all)

Every participant gave an overview of the status of aquaculture in the different countries.  Everyone sends its presentation to Karen (annex 4). There are three main common species in the different countries: seabass, seabream and trout. Other common species are blue mussel and meagre. 

10. Nutritional values of aquaculture products, trace elements

There is a lack of data on: 

·         the nutritional value of aquacultured species against wild species, there is a lot of variation depending on the farm, feed, species. 

·         which quality parameters really fit to the species (microbiological, sensory and chemical). TVB-N is not applicable, alternatives are K-value and TBARS.

·         transport time and conditions

Tasks for the everyone: 

·         Collect data on farmed and wild fish on the composition, FA profile, growth conditions for trout, seabram, seabass and meagre from the last 4 years (feed changed a lot during the last years). A lot of aquaculture work has been done in Turkey. 

·         Send all the data by the end of October to Horst

If possible from the data received, a review can be written on the comparison of wild and farmed species

11. Parasites progress report + EU call (all)

Margarita gave an update on the work progress in Spain (annex 5). At the moment, 12 allergens are known, some of them are very heat resistant. Technological approaches are applied to decrease or eliminate allergens from parasitized fish muscle. 

Horst gave a presentation on the results of a proficiency test organized in Germany (annex 6). The official EU method (candling) obtains poor results, the results with the digestion method are much better. 

12. Contaminants progress report + EU call (all)

• Belgium will start working on oxygenated PAHs in the marine environment (sediment and biota). 
• Germany will start working on 3 – MCPD (3-monochloropropandiol). This is a very toxic process contaminant. It can be produced in grilled and smoked meat, soy sauce but also in unrefined fish oils and in heated and canned food when salt is added. 

13. Microbiological issues (all)

This subject was dropped.

14. National and EU funded projects (all) 

Horst gave an update on the approval of the European FP7 project on parasites. Margarita, Guillaume and Horst participate in this project. 

The FP7 project "ECSafeSeafood” is also approved by the EU. Belgium is participant, Portugal is coordinator. 

A new call will be launched by Europe. We can try to have a subject on new species in the call via the seafoodplus platform. 

15. Actual laboratory question, problems and "good to know” issues

Horst gave an update on his work with ASE. The solvents used are the same as those of the Smedes method. Some problems arose for lean fish species as these obtain lower results. The results for pollutant analysis are thus also slightly lower. 

16. Future business and tasks of the Working Group

See detailed information under the different topics above. 

17. WEFTA homepage, publication of WEFTA interlab. studies and home methods (all) 

A template was made by Karen. Bo filled in the template for one method. Horst will send this around as an example. The others fill in the template for their validated home methods.    

18. Date and place of the next meeting 

Thursday 23th of May, Madrid, Spain. Details for lodging and travelling will be delivered later.

19. Other business

None

20. Adjourn 

The chairman expressed his thanks to the group and considered this meeting a very fruitful and successful one. Then he closed the meeting.